As of today, taxpayers have one week to gather their documents, dust off last year's 1040, boot up that tax software or race down to the neighborhood tax preparer.

The 11th hour is drawing near for individuals to meet the April 15 filing deadline for 2012 income taxes.

But what drives the tax-time procrastinator could be many different factors -- from financial to emotional -- say industry members, psychology and business professors, and local last-minute tax filers.

"I'm not giving the government my money until it's time," said Alfred Schock, a Boulder resident since 1953.

That time? April 15.

For as long as Schock can remember, the day he sits down, prepares and files his taxes is April 15.

"It started out because I always had to pay money and I just thought that I wanted to keep my money in my own pocket as long as I could," he said. "It just sort of got to be a real habit to do it that way.

"Even when I knew I was getting money back, I still waited."

To others, procrastination can be a fine art.

"I remember being at the post office in line on the final day, even when I was in college," said Rhonda Ahrens, of Erie. "It's funny, because I'm organized. I don't know. I just have a mental block on taxes.

"And I tend to work better under pressure."

Christine Cowles and her husband are not able to file their personal taxes until the taxes are completed for his company, an S corporation.

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"But he's actually already filled it all out; it's all finished," said Cowles, a Boulder resident. "We just will owe money this year, which hasn't been the case for several years, and so that adds to not wanting to have to do it earlier.

"The good news is things were more profitable this year."

'Self-sabotaging'

Procrastination is ubiquitous across cultures and across age groups, said Kim Gorgens, a clinical associate professor at the University of Denver's Graduate School of Professional Psychology.

It's been a topic of research to show a broader self-loathing or failing of self-regulation, while other studies suggest that the amount of procrastination is directly related to the perceived aversiveness of the task itself.

"Which couldn't be better exemplified than with tax season," Gorgens said. "If someone's short on finances ... or if it's just the enormity of the task itself, (taxes fall) into the aversive box in just about everybody's case."

One overwhelming conclusion from the research, she added, is the toll taken by procrastination. In studies with university students, the subjects who procrastinated self-reported health issues including compromised immune systems and lower overall task performance.

"For a lot of expert procrastinators, we have a whole model about how it improves performance, how, 'This enhances my ability,'" she said. " ... It's an interesting paradox, the idea that you're facilitating your performance somehow is really a self-sabotaging mission."

Gorgens admitted she's not immune to procrastinating:

When she brushed up on research related to procrastination before being interviewed for this story, she put off writing a lecture. She also just got her taxes out to her certified public accountant on Wednesday -- by a "hair's breadth."

"Talk about self-sabotaging," she said, laughing. "And I feel like I'm ahead of the game when I look at the lines at H&R Block or the people who try to get the prized postmark."

'Huge rush'

During the two weeks before Tax Day, it's "all hands on deck" at the H&R Block office at 4800 Baseline Road, in south Boulder, said Scott Briggs, senior tax adviser.

"While there is a huge rush, we have more than enough people (to prepare everyone's taxes)," Briggs said.

The bulk of the last-minute rush typically comes from taxpayers who misplaced documents or had difficulty compiling all the necessary paperwork, he said. There also are people who do not file until April 15 as a matter of principle.

"I have two separate clients" who fit that bill, he said. "It's their little form of protest."

For the last-minute filers, Briggs passed along a couple tips:

Do everything to compile as much paperwork as possible. If a document is missing, go ahead and file by April 15 and then file an amendment.

The deadline to contribute to an IRA is April 15.

This is the last year that amendments can be made to 2009 returns.

Even if an extension is filed on April 15, any payments owed are still due on that date.

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